Now I Smell Like Bubble Gum
by night-rainbow27
Summary: #4. Iris and the Spirit Detective team go in town for a mission unlike any other, all Yusuke's idea.


**Disclaimer:**I only own my OC, Iris and the plot.

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Iris's POV

"What did you _do_ to it?!" Yusuke asked aghast, staring at my beloved Jeep Wrangler with an expression of pure horror. It was probably because the bottom half was covered in mud and you could only tell it was red only because the top was intact. The windows were completely clean, though, I washed them regularly.

We were about to go out in town when I suggested we should take my car. I _was_ pretty far from civilization up here in the mountains, it was a long walk. Yusuke, Hiei, Kurama and Kuwabara agreed, but sometime along the way my plan failed. Right now, we were in the garage at my house, staring at my car, everybody with a different expression. Yusuke was infuriated, Kuwabara was confused – probably because of his friend's reaction, – Kurama was amused, Hiei was bored and I was staring at it adoringly.

I knew what he meant, but I didn't like his tone. Yusuke was staring at it was torn to pieces. "It's just mud," I raised an eyebrow at him, amused.

"_Just_ mud? _Just_? Do you _see_ this?" Yusuke motioned to my car frantically.

"Calm down, Urameshi! She can wash it off anytime," Kuwabara tried to soothe him unsuccessfully.

"Yes, she can." Yusuke agreed with Kuwabara and sounded slightly irritated as if somebody just pointed out something very obvious.

"Yeah, Yusuke, why do _you_ care? It's her car," Hiei pointed out, sounding bored.

"But—but—" he sputtered, motioning to the mud again.

Kurama was a few feet away from me and the corner of his mouth was curled in amusement for his friend's behavior.

"The question is," Yusuke started again, "why hasn't she yet?" He looked at me from the corner of his eye.

I sighed, but my smile stayed in place. I never thought Yusuke would make this difficult. "This car has a history—" I started, but was interrupted.

"Yeah, and it's splattered all over it, I can see that! Answer my question," he demanded.

"I was getting there," I was barely holding in my laughter by now. I gave up on my original start to my sentence, and started again, hoping to sway him. "This car was made for dirt trails and mud. I don't wash it very often because I like to be reminded of my good times in it." I knew my reasoning sounded completely insane. I was perfectly aware of that. Unfortunately, it was all I had.

Yusuke didn't seem very pleased with my answer and now even Kuwabara was staring at me like horns just sprouted out of my forehead. Kurama was silently chuckling in the sidelines, highly entertained by our quarrel. Hiei already started walking away from it toward the door of my garage.

I gave Yusuke an innocent smile, but he didn't return it. He stared at me for the longest time. Then, quite abruptly, he said, "Let's go to the car wash first."

Now it was my turn to stare at him. "Are you serious?" I asked him, just to be sure. He nodded, seemingly determined. I shook my head at him, knowing it was hopeless to continue to argue with him. He wouldn't change his mind.

Just as I was about to say something, Hiei sighted, irritated. "This is so childish and boring. I'm leaving," he said not looking at either of us, and without another word, disappeared to do…whatever Hiei usually did in his free time. Terrorize humans, maybe?

"Ok, then," I sighed in mock defeat, "but it won't take long until it will be like this again," I gave Yusuke a crooked grin over my shoulder as I took the driver's seat and he got in the back seat by Kuwabara. Kurama was in the passenger's seat.

Yusuke scowled at me, but didn't say another word. He did, however, started muttering to Kuwabara as I turned the key in the ignition and pushed the button that made the top go down. It was a nice day.

As I did so, I caught Kurama's eye and he flashed me a smile that was somewhat mysterious, as if he was hiding something from me. My tongue was itching to ask him what he was thinking. His smile always made my mind go all haywire, so I gave in without even intending to. I voiced my question just as I was backing out of my driveway.

He remained silent for a little while, almost as if he was thinking what answer to give me. "I was thinking that today is a nice day for a car wash," he answered, but the glimmer in his eye was still there, that secret he didn't want to share.

I flashed him a quick look as I was driving. "Tell me what you were _really_ thinking," I told him. With my driving and keeping the conversation with Kurama, I hardly noticed that Yusuke stopped talking to Kuwabara and they were being unnaturally silent…as if they were listening.

I enjoyed the wind blowing through my hair and kept the steering wheel straight with my right hand as I stayed with my left propped against my door, having the window down.

"That," I heard him say over the wind, "is a secret."

"I can always use my powers to get an answer," I pointed out, grinning.

"And I can always start going through all the plants that I know and list their names, appearance, proprieties and other facts that will probably bore you immensely," he shot right back.

"Only if you're expecting it, you will," I said.

"I have next to unlimited patience," he stated, and I was at a dead end. I couldn't really find a witty comeback in me arsenal to say after a reply like _that._ So I just smiled knowingly, and remained silent.

I was too busy keeping my eyes on the road, and I didn't check my rear-view mirror either because we were close, otherwise I would've seen my two friends snickering in the back seat. But I remained oblivious to that.

Not very long afterward, I pulled in to the local car wash named "Auto Spa," and stopped right in front of an automatic wash to pull all the windows back up as well as the top.

"What are you doing?" Yusuke asked. I looked in my rear-view mirror, but I could only see Kuwabara there.

I frowned. "What does it look like I'm doing? Washing the car, like we said."

"_Automatically_?" I said the word like it was a sin or a swear word. Hell, he used swear words more comfortably.

"Is there a problem?" Kurama spoke out for the first time, his amused smile still in place.

Yusuke sighed, seemingly annoyed.

Kuwabara answered for him. "Urameshi thinks there's a good chance it'll scratch your car," he said and Yusuke raised his eyebrows for emphasis.

"I don't think—"

"No, you don't," I said.

"I know!" Yusuke argued, ignoring me, and I rolled my eyes.

"All right, all right, we'll go do it the old-fashioned way," I sighed, defeated again. "But I do the last part."

I made sure nobody was coming and backed up, then pulled into another slot.

We all got out of the car and examined the machine where we were supposed to pick out what we wanted to do and plug in the coins. After a few seconds, Yusuke turned to me expectantly. "Well?" he urged me and I had no idea what he wanted. He elaborated. "Are you gonna pay up or not?"

"I was hoping you would do it," I said truthfully, flashing him a grin. "It was your idea, after all."

Yusuke snorted. "No way. It's your car," he waved me off.

"That _you_ wanted to wash!" I poked him in the chest for more emphasis.

"For its own good!" he threw his hands in the air as if I was a lost cause.

I groaned and went back to my car to get my wallet. When I came back, I fed the machine four quarters; Yusuke pressed a button and went ahead and started to soak the tires it with a yellow-colored substance. He went around the car to get every spot on them, and already some mud was starting to come off, or rather, ooze off. Kurama, Kuwabara and I just looked at him from the sidelines, unsure if he wanted us to help or not.

When he was done, he pushed another button then handed Kuwabara the jet. "Make sure you get every spot," he told him seriously.

"Why do I have to do it?" Kuwabara complained.

"It's a group effort, suck it up!" Yusuke bellowed at him and thrust it in his hands. Kuwabara obliged, but it was obvious he was sulking. "Hurry up, Kuwabara, otherwise you'll have to cough up some quarters!" And with that Kuwabara sped up.

Time was still running out, and with less than a minute left, the machine started beeping, so I added two more.

Kurama got the toughest job of all. When Yusuke pushed the next button down the row, he turned to him. "Get the brush," he ordered him and Kurama didn't bother to comment or protest. He did his job, however, with incredible speed. In less than 30 seconds, my Jeep was covered completely in pink foam that smelled like bubble gum. I started at him in wonder, already forgetting my guilt about the entire situation that he and Kuwabara were forced to wash my dirty car.

When Kurama was done, Yusuke pushed the last button and said to me, "You know what to do," as if we were talking about the most complex plan of attack we had yet instead of what we were actually doing.

"Yes, Sir," I nodded and gave him an army salute before I got to my job. His attitude amused me greatly. And I started washing off the foam off my car, I had a sudden idea. I looked over at the three of them, and tried to catch either Kurama or Kuwabara's eye.

Kurama looked at me questioningly, and as I walked back, getting the side, I motioned him to get away from where he was standing. When he started walking, I showed him to stop and pointed in the other two's general direction, hoping he knew what I meant. He gave me a small smile, and motioned Kuwabara to come to him at a convenient time when he and Yusuke weren't talking.

When I got Yusuke successfully by himself, I pointed the jet of water directly at him and soaked him from head to toe. He yelped in surprise and I saw that Kuwabara was laughing out loud and Kurama was hiding his chuckles behind his hand.

I retreated the jet of water and revealed a wet Yusuke, with his usual gelled-back hair now dripping wet over his scowling eyes. I didn't miss the evil grin though. "You'll pay for that!" he roared and charged at me.

With lightning speed, he was in front of me, fighting me for the grip on the jet of water. I tried as hard as I could, but he was just too freakishly strong. He didn't even try to get it away from me, he just tilted it slightly in my direction – the jet now going directly upward – and the next thing I knew, I was trying to keep water form coming in my eyes. I turned my head to the side and I felt my hair getting soaking wet by the second.

Finally, in a moment of weakness, he jerked the jet from my hands and pointed it directly at me as I tried to shield my face, laughing as I did so. I hardly noticed my clothes clinging tightly to my body as I tried to retrieve back the jet of water to no avail.

During our fight, Yusuke noticed Kuwabara laughing hysterically, because he roared over the powerful sound at him, "What are _you _laughing at?" and pointed the jet of water at him. Unfortunately, Kurama got caught in the crossfire, so before we know it, we were in a full-fledged war, Kurama and Kuwabara and I against Yusuke, who somehow still had the advantage over us because he had the jet of water.

Cleaning the car forgotten, we tried to retaliate. Over the roar of the jet, we didn't hear the machine ringing, begging for more quarters… That is, until Yusuke was left with just a few drops of water.

Taking my chance, I went to the other side of the car that got unwashed and took some foam and threw it at Yusuke. The other two followed, and not very long after that, Yusuke surrendered to our merciless torture of throwing pink foam at him that smelled like bubble gum.

Finally, we made peace, and then finished our job.

I didn't watch my step though, and I accidentally tripped, gasping at my own stupidity. That wouldn't have been much of a problem if Kurama wasn't right in front of me as I did so. Even worse, he must've heard my gasp and turned around just in time to see me falling right into him.

His eyes widened momentarily before we both crashed on the soaked, hard floor, me on top of Kurama. I tried to scramble quickly on all for of my limbs, scared that I hurt him, but something was pinning me down. It was his arms. He must've caught me right before we hit the ground and I cursed my clumsiness. "Are you all right?" I asked frantically, raising myself on my hands.

His eyes were momentarily closed, but when he opened them he looked like he was in shock for few seconds then actually started laughing softly. "I'm fine," he said and noticed his face was slightly flushed. In this embarrassing situation, I happened to notice, once again, how incredibly mesmerizing his eyes were, and I only realized I was staring after I did it for few good seconds.

"I'm so sorry!" I smattered, blushing furiously and hoped he'd take it that it was a sign of the excitement and not how I reacted naturally to our closeness. "I—"

"Hey," I heard Yusuke say not very far from us in a voice that implied he just found out something very interesting. "What are you two doing down there?" He was snickering and so was Kuwabara at his side.

"I—I fell," I tried to make my voice certain, but instead I stammered again.

"Ri-i-i-i-i-i-ight," Kuwabara made the word sound like it was half a dozen syllables long.

I cleared my throat loudly, but they took no notice. Only then did Kurama release me and I quickly got to my feet, avoiding eye contact, nor comment at all on their teasing. Instead, I looked over my car to see if there was any foam left on it, and when I saw that it was clean, I went in the driver's seat and pulled it out of the slot to park it in the sun to dry. The others followed behind me.

There, in my seat, I was more aware of my soaked clothes clinging onto my every more than earlier before and I silently thanked the heavens that I had leather seats so I wouldn't wet them too. I also got a few seconds to think about what just happened, and it only made me blush even more. Why did I have to trip? Into _him_ too, on top of it. It would've probably been better if I crashed into Yusuke or Kuwabara… Then on a second thought, I realized that it wouldn't. They would tease me anyway. They don't have a clue I actually _do_ like him, they just like to mess around.

I jumped when I heard a loud knock and when I looked at my window I saw it was Yusuke who was telling me to get back outside.

When I did, not bothering to wait to hear what Yusuke wanted to say, I went to the trunk and got out a bucket full of clean rags that was always there, despite the lack of visits to the car wash. I showed it to him and he gave me a grin, finally pleased with something I did.

We each got a rag and started whipping the car in silence, each with their share. None of us said a word, but in a way, I'm glad it was silent. I had absolutely no intention to make my feelings public, and a blush counted as that.

For the rest of the time, I was lost in thought, until I heard Yusuke's cheerful voice, "We're done!" My head snapped up to look at him and I realized I've been whipping the same spot for the last five minutes.

I looked it over and had to admit, it looked nice. Heck, it looked brand new. I was starting to feel glad we did this; it's been a while since my Jeep got a thorough bath like that. I walked around her once, and at one point stopped on where Kuwabara's "section" was. I looked over a spot on there and as I brushed it with my finger, I realized it was a tiny scratch and the paint was off.

"There's a scratch here," I muttered to myself under my breath.

Kuwabara, however, heard me perfectly clear and panicked before I could even figure out _what_ he was panicking about, "What?" he said, sounding startled and guilty, "I didn't do it!"

"Huh?" I asked in confusion. I didn't say anybody did it.

"What did you do?" Yusuke immediately came by him and, again, before I could explain Yusuke saw the scratch, although it was very small.

"Guys," I tried to get their attention, but to no avail. Now I understood what Kuwabara panicked about.

"You _scratched _it?" he bellowed, "That's it! I'm not letting you anywhere near my car again!" Yusuke looked particularly funny with his hair dripping wet and his angry expression.

"I didn't do it, Urameshi, I swear!" Kuwabara tried frantically to explain himself.

"Guys!" I bellowed and they finally shut up. "Calm down. Kuwabara, you didn't do anything wrong. That was already there." I sighed.

"When did it happen?" Yusuke demanded.

"I don't know!" I said truthfully.

"You—"

"Perhaps," Kurama finally stepped in to my rescue, "somebody scratched it in a parking lot while they were pulling out. It's nobody's fault, Yusuke," he said and the spirit detective finally nodded.

"Let's go home," Kurama suggested and we all nodded. We all got in, dripping yet and I got out of the car wash and was about to drive home. I took a quick glance at Kurama and bit back a grin as I looked at him. His long, fiery-red locks were dripping water and his bangs were behind his ear. Every time a wet lock invaded his vision, he ran his hand through his hair.

"What were we going to do before we went to the car wash?" Kuwabara interrupted my reverie and I thought about it. "I don't remember," I said truthfully. Yusuke said, "Me neither," and I saw Kuwabara shrug in the rear-view mirror.

Kurama remained silent, a small smile on his lips as if he was lost in thought himself, and he liked what he saw.

Then, even over the _whoosh_ing of the wind, I heard Yusuke mutter to Kuwabara, "Ah, hell, now I smell like bubble gum."

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**A/N:** I wrote this purely for fun, a random idea that i got while i was doing exactly the same thing. I thought it would be entertaining. It's been a while since i could write something funm like this. Hope you guys like it!

That being said, i have to say that although Yusuke never such interest in the anime (i dunno about the manga, i didn't read it), he struck me as the type who would. I thought it was fitting. And having him rant and rave and get all freaked out was definitely worth it, i think.


End file.
